2014 Countdown to Kickoff

Changes galore at Conestoga Valley, where the Buckskins will be featuring a new offense, a new defense and — assuming work on the property in Witmer remains on schedule — a new turf surface in the stadium when the season opens.

Coach Mark Pieters waved goodbye to the Wing-T and put in a shiny new spread attack, a West Coast offense of sorts with plenty of passing. He also tweaked the defense, while welcoming back a lot of returning talent from a year ago.

Oh yeah, and this: Conestoga Valley shuffles off Section 1 this season. It’s the first time in 32 years that the Buckskins are not in Section 2. How will Conestoga Valley fare in its new digs? The Buckskins’ Countdown to Kickoff is below.

OFFENSIVE OVERVIEW: Pieters junked last year’s Wing-T look and spent the summer installing an up-tempo, spread set, predicated on quick reads, quicker routes and spreading the ball around amongst a pack of receivers and backs.

Stoltzfus returns for his soph season after taking most of the snaps and passing for 930 yards and 9 TD a year ago, and he’ll have two things right off the bat: Vet wideouts Parker (19-351, 5 TD) and Hurst (10-166) to throw to — plus vet yard-gainers Maldonado, Cardina and Lopez — and an experienced o-line, fronted by Martin at one guard spot.

Bucks averaged just 233 yards and 12 points per game last fall. With this new scheme, Pieters is hoping those numbers go way, way up — especially with a daunting Section 1 slate on the horizon.

DEFENSIVE OVERVIEW: Buckskins had the sixth worse defense in the L-L last fall, so Pieters did some tweaking on this side of the ball as well. Gone are the 4-4 looks, replaced by a 3-3-5 stack scheme.

Cardina, a fleet blitzer on the edge and a Section 2 all-star pick last fall, should be the ringleader. He had 44 stops and a sack last year.

Parker will spearhead the secondary, which took a hit when all-star DB Daulton Martin decided not to come back out for the team so that he can concentrate on baseball.

BIGGEST GAME: September 19 vs. Manheim Township. That’ll be the Buckskins’ first Section 1 game since 1980, when Conestoga Valley went 4-5 and finished in sixth place in Jim Cantafio’s rookie season on the Bucks’ sideline.

Conestoga Valley spent the next 32 years in Section 2 before bumping back up for at least the next two-year cycle based on school enrollment numbers.

REINHART’S CRYSTAL BALL: Pieters is having a lot of fun with the Bucks’ new offense. He said he studied what Chip Kelly did at Oregon, and that he even has signs, numbers and code words for his players — but that he’s trying to keep it simple so his kids can read and react.

Tough to say how Conestoga Valley’s first go-round in Section 1 in 32 years will go. The Bucks open with familiar faces Ephrata, Solanco and Lampeter-Strasburg, which will help. Then comes the gauntlet.

Buckskins have a lot of returning talent, and they’re the new kids on the block. Don’t overlook these guys, especially if the new O picks up speed.